Vehicle seat assemblies commonly includes a seat track assembly for slidably mounting the seat to the floor of the vehicle. A seat cushion is supported by the seat track assembly and a seat back is pivotally supported by the seat cushion or seat track assembly. It is often desirable to adjust the angular or reclining position of the seat back with respect to the seat cushion for user comfort and safety. It is also often desirable to pivot the seat back fully forward, to a dumped position to allow easier access to the area behind the seat assembly. However, once the seat back has been pivoted fully forward to the dumped position, the previously adjusted reclining position is lost and the seat back must again be adjusted to the desired seat back reclining position.
Further, the seat track assembly is often unlocked or released when the seat back is pivoted to the dumped position allow forward sliding movement of the entire seat assembly and provide even greater access to the area behind the seat assembly. The release of both the seat back and seat track causes even further difficulty in retaining the previously adjusted reclining position of the seat back upon return from the dumped position.
Therefore, it remains desirable to provide a mechanism which allow release of the seat back for pivotal movement from the adjusted reclining position to the dumped position, while retaining, or memorizing, the previously adjusted reclining position upon return of the seat back.